Don’t let message get lost in bureaucratese, jargon

OpinionOct 10, 2012Aurora Banner

ISSUE: World is rife with documents that do nothing but obscure true meaning.
Plain language. Don’t get us started.
Jargon, spin, officialese, legalese and bureaucratese are the bane of the journalist’s life — those long, convoluted, pretentious and acronym-peppered treatises so favoured by government officials, big businesses such as insurance companies and banks, public relations flaks and, most definitely, information technologists and lawyers.
It’s our job to separate the wheat from the chaff and trim the fat ­­and tell you, simply and clearly, what you need to know.
Our newsrooms are awash in news releases and reports that are nothing but gobbledygook to the person of average — or even superior, dare we say — intelligence.
But enough about us.
Our world is rife with documents, reports, notices, policies, in paper and online, that do nothing but obscure true meaning and purpose.
Why must these purveyors of obscure and evasive language make our lives even more confusing and complicated? What is this addiction to euphemisms and circumlocutions?
At a time when simple, clear and concise language has never been more important to a global citizenry living in a culture of instant and constant communication, it’s a relief to know there are people fighting the good battle for good communication.
There is a global and multilingual movement afoot, active here in York Region and the GTA, that’s encouraging the use of and celebrating plain language with International Plain Language Day every Oct. 13.
Language activists Michelle Black, president of SimplyRead Communications in Richmond Hill, and Aurora’s Darlene Shura, founder of Renaissance Communications, are leading the local charge for plain talk with an event at the ING Direct Cafe in Toronto Saturday.
This year’s event includes a virtual program in 2013, so you can take part with your computer or smartphone.
Communication in plain language has “wording, structure and design (that) are so clear that the intended readers can easily find, understand and use what they need”, according the Plain Language Association.
Here’s an example of definitely-not-plain language in this notice regarding a public meeting for Vaughan residents wanting to learn more about and have input regarding proposed sewer routes and a new pumping treatment centre in their neighbourhood. Well, we think that’s what it’s about.The Regional Municipality of York (York Region) completed the Water and Wastewater Master Plan Update in November 2009. At that time, the need for additional sewer servicing capacity for the West Vaughan area (the Project) to meet the future anticipated growth demands until the year 2051 was identified.
York Region has initiated a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment study (Class EA) under Schedule C of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment document (October 2000, as amended in July 2011). The Class EA study will identify and evaluate feasible servicing alternatives for the West Vaughan service area, illustrated on the map below, including a sewage servicing plan. A Notice of Study Commencement inviting initial public input was published in March 2011 and the first Public Consultation Centre (PCC) was held on April 27, 2011.
York Region will host a second PCC to provide a project status update and present results from the evaluation of the short-listed servicing solutions carried forward from the first PCC.
In his book, Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government and Law, professor Joseph Kimble uses 50 studies to prove using plain language can save organizations and agencies money.
He says readers of plain language are more likely to comply with it ­ — and actually read it in the first place.
Some countries are taking the need for plain language seriously. The United States, for instance, passed the Plain Writing Act in 2010, to enhance access to information and services by ensuring documents issued to the public are written clearly.
Because plain language makes readers more motivated, trusting and confident, Mr. Kimble argues it can even help restore faith in public institutions.
We can only hope, but without a doubt, when your quest for help or information is met with a brick wall of bafflegab, you’re left feeling frustrated, if not angry, and with a strong impression regarding the lack of competence and caring of that business, organization or government.
In multicultural York Region, the plain language movement can also be seen as another measure to ensure our communities are inclusive.
Speak out for plain language Saturday, on International Plain Language Day, and everyday.
To learn more, visit iplday.org or facebook.com/internationalplainlanguageday

BOTTOM LINE: Speak out for plain language Saturday and every day.

Don’t let message get lost in bureaucratese, jargon

OpinionOct 10, 2012Aurora Banner

ISSUE: World is rife with documents that do nothing but obscure true meaning.
Plain language. Don’t get us started.
Jargon, spin, officialese, legalese and bureaucratese are the bane of the journalist’s life — those long, convoluted, pretentious and acronym-peppered treatises so favoured by government officials, big businesses such as insurance companies and banks, public relations flaks and, most definitely, information technologists and lawyers.
It’s our job to separate the wheat from the chaff and trim the fat ­­and tell you, simply and clearly, what you need to know.
Our newsrooms are awash in news releases and reports that are nothing but gobbledygook to the person of average — or even superior, dare we say — intelligence.
But enough about us.
Our world is rife with documents, reports, notices, policies, in paper and online, that do nothing but obscure true meaning and purpose.
Why must these purveyors of obscure and evasive language make our lives even more confusing and complicated? What is this addiction to euphemisms and circumlocutions?
At a time when simple, clear and concise language has never been more important to a global citizenry living in a culture of instant and constant communication, it’s a relief to know there are people fighting the good battle for good communication.
There is a global and multilingual movement afoot, active here in York Region and the GTA, that’s encouraging the use of and celebrating plain language with International Plain Language Day every Oct. 13.
Language activists Michelle Black, president of SimplyRead Communications in Richmond Hill, and Aurora’s Darlene Shura, founder of Renaissance Communications, are leading the local charge for plain talk with an event at the ING Direct Cafe in Toronto Saturday.
This year’s event includes a virtual program in 2013, so you can take part with your computer or smartphone.
Communication in plain language has “wording, structure and design (that) are so clear that the intended readers can easily find, understand and use what they need”, according the Plain Language Association.
Here’s an example of definitely-not-plain language in this notice regarding a public meeting for Vaughan residents wanting to learn more about and have input regarding proposed sewer routes and a new pumping treatment centre in their neighbourhood. Well, we think that’s what it’s about.The Regional Municipality of York (York Region) completed the Water and Wastewater Master Plan Update in November 2009. At that time, the need for additional sewer servicing capacity for the West Vaughan area (the Project) to meet the future anticipated growth demands until the year 2051 was identified.
York Region has initiated a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment study (Class EA) under Schedule C of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment document (October 2000, as amended in July 2011). The Class EA study will identify and evaluate feasible servicing alternatives for the West Vaughan service area, illustrated on the map below, including a sewage servicing plan. A Notice of Study Commencement inviting initial public input was published in March 2011 and the first Public Consultation Centre (PCC) was held on April 27, 2011.
York Region will host a second PCC to provide a project status update and present results from the evaluation of the short-listed servicing solutions carried forward from the first PCC.
In his book, Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government and Law, professor Joseph Kimble uses 50 studies to prove using plain language can save organizations and agencies money.
He says readers of plain language are more likely to comply with it ­ — and actually read it in the first place.
Some countries are taking the need for plain language seriously. The United States, for instance, passed the Plain Writing Act in 2010, to enhance access to information and services by ensuring documents issued to the public are written clearly.
Because plain language makes readers more motivated, trusting and confident, Mr. Kimble argues it can even help restore faith in public institutions.
We can only hope, but without a doubt, when your quest for help or information is met with a brick wall of bafflegab, you’re left feeling frustrated, if not angry, and with a strong impression regarding the lack of competence and caring of that business, organization or government.
In multicultural York Region, the plain language movement can also be seen as another measure to ensure our communities are inclusive.
Speak out for plain language Saturday, on International Plain Language Day, and everyday.
To learn more, visit iplday.org or facebook.com/internationalplainlanguageday

BOTTOM LINE: Speak out for plain language Saturday and every day.

Top Stories

Don’t let message get lost in bureaucratese, jargon

OpinionOct 10, 2012Aurora Banner

ISSUE: World is rife with documents that do nothing but obscure true meaning.
Plain language. Don’t get us started.
Jargon, spin, officialese, legalese and bureaucratese are the bane of the journalist’s life — those long, convoluted, pretentious and acronym-peppered treatises so favoured by government officials, big businesses such as insurance companies and banks, public relations flaks and, most definitely, information technologists and lawyers.
It’s our job to separate the wheat from the chaff and trim the fat ­­and tell you, simply and clearly, what you need to know.
Our newsrooms are awash in news releases and reports that are nothing but gobbledygook to the person of average — or even superior, dare we say — intelligence.
But enough about us.
Our world is rife with documents, reports, notices, policies, in paper and online, that do nothing but obscure true meaning and purpose.
Why must these purveyors of obscure and evasive language make our lives even more confusing and complicated? What is this addiction to euphemisms and circumlocutions?
At a time when simple, clear and concise language has never been more important to a global citizenry living in a culture of instant and constant communication, it’s a relief to know there are people fighting the good battle for good communication.
There is a global and multilingual movement afoot, active here in York Region and the GTA, that’s encouraging the use of and celebrating plain language with International Plain Language Day every Oct. 13.
Language activists Michelle Black, president of SimplyRead Communications in Richmond Hill, and Aurora’s Darlene Shura, founder of Renaissance Communications, are leading the local charge for plain talk with an event at the ING Direct Cafe in Toronto Saturday.
This year’s event includes a virtual program in 2013, so you can take part with your computer or smartphone.
Communication in plain language has “wording, structure and design (that) are so clear that the intended readers can easily find, understand and use what they need”, according the Plain Language Association.
Here’s an example of definitely-not-plain language in this notice regarding a public meeting for Vaughan residents wanting to learn more about and have input regarding proposed sewer routes and a new pumping treatment centre in their neighbourhood. Well, we think that’s what it’s about.The Regional Municipality of York (York Region) completed the Water and Wastewater Master Plan Update in November 2009. At that time, the need for additional sewer servicing capacity for the West Vaughan area (the Project) to meet the future anticipated growth demands until the year 2051 was identified.
York Region has initiated a Municipal Class Environmental Assessment study (Class EA) under Schedule C of the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment document (October 2000, as amended in July 2011). The Class EA study will identify and evaluate feasible servicing alternatives for the West Vaughan service area, illustrated on the map below, including a sewage servicing plan. A Notice of Study Commencement inviting initial public input was published in March 2011 and the first Public Consultation Centre (PCC) was held on April 27, 2011.
York Region will host a second PCC to provide a project status update and present results from the evaluation of the short-listed servicing solutions carried forward from the first PCC.
In his book, Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government and Law, professor Joseph Kimble uses 50 studies to prove using plain language can save organizations and agencies money.
He says readers of plain language are more likely to comply with it ­ — and actually read it in the first place.
Some countries are taking the need for plain language seriously. The United States, for instance, passed the Plain Writing Act in 2010, to enhance access to information and services by ensuring documents issued to the public are written clearly.
Because plain language makes readers more motivated, trusting and confident, Mr. Kimble argues it can even help restore faith in public institutions.
We can only hope, but without a doubt, when your quest for help or information is met with a brick wall of bafflegab, you’re left feeling frustrated, if not angry, and with a strong impression regarding the lack of competence and caring of that business, organization or government.
In multicultural York Region, the plain language movement can also be seen as another measure to ensure our communities are inclusive.
Speak out for plain language Saturday, on International Plain Language Day, and everyday.
To learn more, visit iplday.org or facebook.com/internationalplainlanguageday